Postcard Vittel, Le Splendid Hôtel, Art Deco spa hotel, Braun Mulhouse ca. 1930

French postcard from the early nineteen-thirties showing a sepia phototype of Le Splendid Hôtel in Vittel in the Vosges. The image shows the monumental Art Deco façade of the hotel, with its rhythmically articulated verticals, wrought-iron balconies and characteristic corner towers crowned with baldachin-like constructions that give the building its signature silhouette. In the foreground, a still unfinished street, a wrought-iron gate and a small handcart, elements that underline the freshness of the just-inaugurated hotel. Beneath the image, the caption reads "15527 c VITTEL — LE SPLENDID-HOTEL". Published by Imprimerie et Éditions Braun et Cie in Mulhouse-Dornach in their Collection Les Vosges. The verso is unwritten and unposted, with a divided back. The card is in good condition.

Le Splendid Hôtel was inaugurated on 15 June 1930 in Vittel, one of the principal French spa towns, renowned since the nineteenth century for its mineral springs. The building was originally to be named "La Renaissance" but was rechristened Splendid shortly before the inauguration because of the exceptional view it offered over the spa park. The hotel stands in a series of grand spa hotels erected in Vittel during the nineteen-twenties and thirties, including the Hôtel Ermitage by Fernand César of 1929 and the Grand-Hôtel of 1912-1920 by Georges Walwein. The Art Deco style of the façade, with its ocean-liner verticality and geometric articulation, places the building in the French architectural current around 1930 that combined modern comfort with an architectural prestige aimed at seducing the wealthy international spa clientele. The publisher Braun et Cie at Mulhouse-Dornach, founded by Adolphe Braun in the nineteenth century, was among the most important French photographic houses and was renowned for the high technical quality of its postcards.